Not a Great Day
HOUGH I am not usually one to bite the hand that feeds me my ration of radie aesthetics I feel I must have a piece of C. Gordon Glover for inflicting on me (admittedly with the assistance of Modwena Sedgwick) an hour of acute discomfort on the occasion of the presentation of One Day in the Luxemburg from 2YA on a recent Sunday. The whole play (and there was lots of it)’ purported to be "the story of a genius and of his expiation" and the authors showed themselves fonder of morals than the Duchess in Wonderland, but less adept at drawing them. ("No man can be a great artist if he’s a social idiot" and "A good brain rots if it has a bad character behind it" were two of the axioms supporting, the plot.) My restiveness at the elaboratiun of what I considered a fallacious premise was aggravated by the false notes in this elaboration-the willying little tune that heralded the approach of the Lost Souls, the completely unsatiric earnestness of the satyr, the bathetic extravagance of the dialogue. (The hero calls his wife his "deffodilly dryad" and refers to the unborn child as "this accursed thing that has come between us.") I have heard almost all C. Gordon Glover’s plays, and have always assumed that if everything else that makes a good play were lacking Mr. Glover's work would stiJl be worth hearing on account of his feeling for the striking ‘image and the new-minted phrase. This time all I got was "The sky of the city is rouged with the lamps of life" and didn’t like it very much at that.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19481015.2.23.1.1
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 486, 15 October 1948, Page 10
Word count
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279Not a Great Day New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 486, 15 October 1948, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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